I was searching the Oberlin online classifieds page the other day and it amused me to find that someone had felt it necessary to advertise the Algebra Tea House, a Cleveland coffee shop, in the announcements section. This person was completely unconnected to the business, save being a frequent attendee of the establishment.

So why publicize the place? Because we need it.

Every college town has one: the cozy, comfy coffee house with enormous, billowy chairs, low lamplight and local artwork on the walls. The man behind the counter knows your usual drink and you frequent the place primarily for the atmosphere (although a healthy coffee addiction doesn’t hurt).

I grew up in Granville, Ohio, where Denison University students are privileged to patronize the River Road Coffeehouse. I would go there on Sunday afternoons and pretend I wasn’t still in high school, sipping my mocha out of a ceramic mug and looking contentedly over the top of The Grapes of Wrath at the other customers. If only those students know how lucky they are.

Maybe we’re trying to be different. Seniors will tell you that Oberlin’s losing its edge, that it’s less wild and eccentric than it was when they were mere first-years. Perhaps having one of those funky, colorful coffee spots would be too expected, fitting the stereotypical college scene.

Possibly Java Zone is the Oberlin version of this ideal hangout in that it lacks cushions and batik draperies. That would just be too predictable. But really, if we’re going to spend our last dollars on caffeinated beverages, we all secretly wish we could do it holed up in some comfortable nook or cranny, curled up with our textbooks, pretending they are fascinating novels.

It is true that Oberlin has other dining establishments with great atmosphere, and even great coffee. In fact, the Black River Café has some of the best coffee I have ever tasted.

But it’s a restaurant. Everyone sits in straight-back chairs and orders off a menu. While Black River is lovely for brunch, it’s just plain wrong for stress-free studying.

As for The Feve, its sign still claims that it’s a coffee house. But the restaurant has since undergone an identity crisis and now also functions as the College student bar hangout. Wonderful, but again, its atmosphere is not conducive to translating lines of the Aeneid into English or memorizing the atomic weight of all the elements in the periodic table.

The Cat in the Cream comes close. It’s moderately cozy with dim lighting.  The people who work behind the counter are charming (and they make fabulous cookies). Still, its intrinsic nature is a little off. It’s a performance venue that happens to have all the comforts of a coffee shop, not the other way around.

Finally, I do not mean to say that we need a Starbucks, or a Caribou Coffee, or whatever other major coffee chain has made the triple espresso nonfat latte with whipped cream a staple nationwide. These stores simulate the local feel, they bribe you with the option of organic coffee, but they aren’t real.

While Oberlin has several wonderful local businesses to frequent and adore, we still don’t have one that both serves a decent cup of coffee and allows you to enjoy it in a pleasant, informal atmosphere. When I imagine how nice it would be to have such a place on those bitter, spiteful winter days that gloom all over you in their grayness, I try to console myself by reasoning that I’m financially better off this way.

But, unfortunately, money does not buy happiness. So I cross my fingers that the coffee fairy is headed to the land of flat forsakenness to mix a little charm in with our hot beverages.